1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to milking apparatus and more particularly to milking apparatus involving a combination suction and manipulatory pumping action for improved lactation.
2. The Prior Art
Milk is an important nutritional component throughout the world. More particularly, human milk is uniquely adapted to the nutritional needs of infants since it is superior to any substitute devised by nutritional scientists. Breast feeding has been found to contribute directly to the infant's immunological adaptation to extrauterine life. Also, human milk is free of hazards associated with artificial feeding, characterized in disadvantaged societies particularly by malnutrition and gastroenteritis, and in affluent societies by obesity, allergic disorders and metabolic derangements including tetany and hyper-osmolar dehydration.
Notwithstanding its biological superiority over any other form of infant feeding, breast feeding has declined in all the technologically advanced societies of the world during this century. Breast feeding is also declining in developing countries with alarming deleterious effects on child health with resultant adverse effects on domestic and national economies. The factors which have contributed to this decline are numerous and complex.
The need for intensifying activities relevant to the promotion of breast feeding has been expressed in numerous documents in recent years particularly since many authorities are convinced that breast milk is the best food for infants. In view of the determination that breast feeding constitutes the most effective safeguard against malnutrition and infection in infancy, particularly in disadvantaged communities, it has been strongly recommended that the promotion of breast feeding be advanced internationally. It is proposed that breast feeding be advanced through educational activities, curtailment of promotion of artificial feeding, improved facilities for working mothers who breast feed, and improved devices for stimulating lactation during periods when infant suckling is inadequate to suitably stimulate appropriate lactation.
With regard to the latter objective, it is currently believed that the presently available devices for stimulating lactation are generally ineffective in many instances and fail to deter loss of production of breast milk. One particular prior art device involves a rigid, frusto-conical surface having a generally bell-shaped configuration. The base of the bell portion is placed over a substantial portion of the breast to seal the breast for the application of suction to at least the nipple. A conventional squeeze bulb is attached to the apex of the bell and, upon release, imparts suction against the portion of the breast enclosed by the bell housing. Numerous women report this device to be uncomfortable and, in certain circumstances, painful to such a degree that further mechanical lactation becomes impossible. With the failure of mechanical lactation and inadequate infant suckling, many women abandon all further attempts at breast feeding.
Cow's milk is the primary source for a wide variety of food products including milk, per se, and is principally supplied by large dairy operations. A conventional dairy operation generally utilizes automatic, suction-type milking devices for extracting a major portion of the milk from the cow's udders. The automatic milking device consists of four cup-like rigid housings with individual elastic sleeves therein. Each elastic sleeve is adapted to be placed over the individual teat of the cow. The elastic sleeve is smaller in diameter than the teat and the elasticity of the same is used to impart a constrictive action to the teat.
This elastic sleeve is referred to in the trade as an "inflation". This term is a misnomer since the sleeve is expanded only by the cyclical application of a negative pressure between the rigid housing and the sleeve. The cyclic expansion of the sleeve by the negative pressure allows milk to flow into the teat. Release of the negative pressure allows the elastic sleeve to return to its unstretched state and thereby apply a constrictive action to the teat to "milk" the same. Simultaneously, suction is constantly applied directly to the teat to draw off any milk forced therefrom by the foregoing cyclical constrictive action of the flexible sleeve.
The foregoing intermittent expansion and constriction action of the sleeve is an attempt to duplicate the manipulative actions of a person milking by hand. However, in most circumstances, for dairies utilizing an automatic milking system, it is still a requirement for a worker to finish milking the cow manually at the end of the automatic milking cycle to extract any remaining milk in the udder. This latter hand milking step is known in the jargon of the trade as "stripping" and is necessary to inhibit the development of mastitis and other diseases in cows associated with their failing to be properly milked. This latter step is also particularly important to assure suitable stimulation for continued lactation.
In view of the foregoing, what is needed is an apparatus and method for stimulating lactation in human females involved in breast feeding. It would also be an advancement in the art with respect to automatic milking devices in the dairy industry to provide an apparatus which improves the extraction of milk and minimizes the requirement for manual stripping of each individual cow at the conclusion of the milking process. Desirably, the milking apparatus and method should most closely approximate the suckling action of an infant and/or a nursing calf. Such an apparatus and method is disclosed and claimed in the present invention.